TheDailyBeast.com: Extreme Photoshopping

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Britain banned two L’Oréal ads featuring Julia Roberts and Christy Turlington for being so airbrushed they could mislead customers. From Beyoncé’s lighter skin to Kim Kardashian’s airbrushed abs, see photos of other extreme retouching. See the Full Story at The Daily Beast

Talk about extreme: A British advertising regulatory group was reportedly so outraged over the retouching in two L'Oréal cosmetics ads that they were subsequently banned. The group said the ads, which feature Julia Roberts for Lancome and Christy Turlington for Maybelline, were misleading because the photos had been so altered. Lancome defended the retouching, saying Roberts’ image was an “aspirational picture” and the digital enhancement was not “directly relevant” to what the product means to achieve. Maybelline, meanwhile, insisted the ad was accurate about what its foundation could achieve. British politician Jo Swinson called for the ban, saying it would “send a powerful message to advertisers—let’s get back to reality.” See the Full Story at The Daily Beast

The former "Sports Illustrated" model was so outraged at an Estée Lauder ad that she says Photoshopped her image to make her older that she just sued the company for $2 million. The ad was for Plantscription, an "anti-aging serum" for women over 45—but Forsling is a mere 35. She’s claiming that the enhancement—or in her view, degradation—has irreparably damaged her career. She says she never used the product and it's deceptive advertising.

In January 2003, 27-year-old actress Kate Winslet was livid over a slimmed-down image of her already-long legs and board-flat stomach on the cover (and inside, pictured here) of British "GQ." Winslet called the retouching “excessive”—noting that “I do not look like that, and more importantly, I don’t desire to look like that.” Not that that mattered to "GQ." Said editor Dylan Jones: “We do that for everyone, whether they are a size six or a size 12.”

No, Katie Couric didn’t discover a miracle diet. But over a four-month period in 2006, as the anchor prepared to take over the "CBS Evening News," it suddenly appeared as if the 53-year-old had shrunk to a third of her body weight. The photo at left, snapped in May, was widely circulated to the media as an official CBS publicity shot. Then, in September, a slimmed-down Couric, her face and waistline radically trimmed. appeared in CBS’s in-house magazine, "Watch!." When the media picked up on the alteration, the network said the retouching job had been the work of an “overzealous” employee. Couric, meanwhile, said she liked the original better. “There’s more of me to love,” she joked.

Skin bleaching has long been a controversial topic, so when Beyoncé appeared several shades lighter than usual in a L’Oreal ad in 2008, it sparked an uproar. There have been many shades of Beyoncé in photographs and ad campaigns, as evidenced by (from left) a 2008 L’Oreal ad, a 2007 cover shot from "Joy" magazine, and a 2009 image on the cover of Russian "Glamour."

“So what: I have a little cellulite. What curvy girl doesn’t!?” That was Kim Kardashian’s response to an unretouched image of her that was mistakenly posted on "Complex" magazine’s website in May 2009. The snapshot—which was quickly replaced by the Photoshopped version—showed that Kim’s waist had been cinched, her thighs slimmed, and her cellulite removed.

This magazine ad for Ralph Lauren, which spurred protests outside Lauren’s Manhattan headquarters in 2009, features 23-year-old model Filippa Hamilton looking positively nonhuman. At 5 feet 8 and 120 pounds, Hamilton (pictured in another Lauren ad at left) later said that the brand—which ultimately apologized for the image—had quietly fired her for being overweight.

Kelly Clarkson looks trim and adorable in this September issue of "Self"—under the headline “Total Body Confidence”—except that her “confident” body has been digitally slimmed down. (The image at left was taken around the same time as her magazine shoot.) Two "Self" editors explained that the cover was not “journalism,” but “meant to inspire women who want to be their best.” Some message.

"Redbook" couldn’t have been pleased when an unretouched image of Faith Hill, featured on the magazine’s July 2007 cover, was leaked to the bloggers at Jezebel. In an annotated before-and-after shot, the bloggers pinpointed 11 digital alterations the already picture-perfect Hill underwent before she hit newsstands—next to a cover line teasing to “56 ways to unleash your sexy side.” (Do 55 of them involve airbrushing?) "Redbook" was accused of contributing to an unattainable body ideal, but editor Stacy Morrison said the picture was “completely in line with industry standards.”